The Impact of Capital Structure on Firm's Profitability: A Case Study of the Rubber Industry in Vietnam

This study aims to examine and measure the impact of capital structure on the profitability of companies in emerging markets. The research sample includes eighteen rubber companies listed on the Vietnam stock exchange from 2015-2019. After collecting the research data, it was imported into excel to calculate the criteria for the research model. By using Stata 16 software, the study selected a data processing model and evaluated the relevance of the regression analysis model. The research results show that the profitability of listed rubber companies in Vietnam (measured by return on equity (ROE) has a positive relationship with the debt-to-asset ratio but has a negative relationship with the long-term debt-to-asset ratio. The results also show a positive impact of firm size and revenue growth on profitability while liquidity and the ratio of tangible fixed assets to total assets do not affect significantly. These results are consistent with most of the previously published studies. However, in contrast to many previous studies, our study shows that the long-term debt-to-assets ratio has a negative effect on profitability while the debt-to-asset ratio has a positive effect. This is entirely consistent with the characteristics of long-term debt use in emerging markets.